Post by westldner on May 17, 2019 0:57:54 GMT

Kaytn (2007), Polish war film about the Kaytn massacre in 1940, considered one of the greatest war crimes in history when Russian forces had taken 20,000+ Polish to the Kaytn forest and executed them. Not really the kind of material making a movie off but Poland seem to have taken it and tried to make a movie about it. The massacre is really a backdrop for a drama between three unfortunate characters where the massacre had taken place and affected them. One solider who swapped places with a general for the general to live. The solider becomes the victim of the massacre while the general has guilt for swapping places with him. A wife of the solider is told that her husband is alive but another solider tell her that he is really dead however she has the challenge of trying to honour him while the council refuses to believe the news because it wasn't official.

Nice to see some German gear in the movie like Volkswagen Kübelwagen being used and seen in the film if anyone looks carefully.

A decent film Katyn and a very interesting subject matter. I watched a film on Sunday called The last Witness, which was all about the cover up of the massacre and the allies blaming it on the Germans for many years.

I'll have to check that out, The Last Witness. It was a cover-up and I'm pretty sure that was the entire point. That's why it was a big deal. The Stalin army had taken German made weapons and used them to kill those Polish officers to make it look like the Germans invaded Russia and killed them there. They used it to cover up that Soviet Union had anything to do with it. That is why there were memorials for years until the Russians admitted it was them. Here, we maybe wouldn't have known, we just thought the Nazi's went into the Soviet Union and killed Polish people there to make it look like the Soviet Union were the victims.

Oh but your correct with how the movie I bought up doesn't portray any of that about the cover up. They just show the Soviets taking the Polish officers and tricking them to a grave site, maybe to expect the viewer to do their research.

Post by lenny0 on May 22, 2019 9:36:49 GMT

I still Hide to Smoke (2016)

Directed by Rayhana Obermeyer

I got this Algerian movie on a whim and put it on, thinking to watch ten minutes just to gauge what it was like. Ended up watching it all.

I STILL HIDE TO SMOKE (a more accurate translation of the original French title would be AT MY AGE, I STILL HIDE TO SMOKE) tells the tale of a group of women of different ages and classes who gather in a female wash house in post-independence Algiers, a city still being bombed daily by terrorists and increasingly dominated by the more hardline forms of Islam, especially in relation to women.

A young woman, pregnant out of wedlock, arrives at the wash house, on the run from her brother who wishes to kill her, and that's the driver for a certain amount of the plot, but this is a film about people and how they live their lives, not particularly about a complicated political story. It's a touching, poignant, layered movie, with several brilliant performances, a set of utterly believable characters and a surprising amount of comedy amongst some fairly grim back stories.

It could perhaps have done without the sudden ending, but even then the director saves the day with a glorious coda which I found genuinely quite moving.

Post by daz on May 27, 2019 13:12:52 GMT

A Norwegian disaster movie, based on historic events and something that will again happen one day, due to the geological makeup of the Norwegian mountains.

Anyway, we meet Kristian who is a geologist in an early warning centre who monitor mountains for changes in the mountainside which may cause an avalanche which in turn will trigger a Tsunami which will devestate the local towns. Kristian is moving to the city to work for an oil company and on his last day, whicst packing up his stuff, something happens in the monitoring centre which worries him, but he is told to forget about it and enjoy his new job. WHilst he is awaiting for the ferry with his kids on the way tothe mainland a few hours later to start their new life, he sees water coming down the mountainside and heads back to his old work to explain what he thinks has happened to the tectonic shifts and possible dangers. We then go on a trip to the actual mountain to see where the data is collected and have to admit it is not a job I would fancy. They find evidence of something not right, but nothing to be overly worried about, so they head back to the station where after assurances that they will monitor the mountains vigorously, Kristian is told once again by his ex colleagues to go and enjoy his new life!

Too late for the Ferry, Kristian stays at the old house with his youngest daughter and his elder son stays at the hotel where his MUm works, so you know that now the family is split up something bad is going to happen and sure enough, the mountain collapses triggering a tsunami and the 10 minute warning is sounded meaning people have to get above 80s meters to survive. SOme good effects kick in at this point and the usual cheesy bits you come to expect from a disaster movie, Kristian has to go back to the town to find his Wife and Son and discover if they have survived....

Not a bad film at all, but the surprising thing was that the Tsunami will actually happen again some day, they just don't know when. I suppose it is the price you pay for being surrounded by so much natural beauty.

The Quake - Following on from the above review from over 2 and a half years ago, I watched the follow up to The Wave last night.

Pretty much identical to the Wave in that that Kristian the main character is back and we see is still having a breakdown after the events of the first film and is convinced something bad is going to happen all the time when he discovers that seismic data is being used incorrectly and that tell tale signs of an imminent quake are being ignored.....

As with the first film there are some great special effects used in the film as we see Oslo ripped to bits by the Quake, but otherwise quite a boring film, an expensive public information film at best and the Norwegians are usually much better than this with their films.

Post by westldner on May 30, 2019 1:19:44 GMT

Wadjda - Saudi Arabia 2012

Yep, SOMEONE has to put this in here and it is me. Cinema never reached Saudi Arabia until this decade and they never made movies, so Wadjda was the answer to what people want Saudi Arabia for cinema. Well maybe. Wadjda is about a young girl who wants to ride a bike however because of the cultural limits, her mother refuses to buy her a bike because men are only allowed to ride bikes and people will laugh at her. So at school, the young girl wants to purchase a bike and a competition is formed for girls who recite the Muslim holy book the Quran. She enters, hoping she'll win the money to purchase the bike to ride with. So she enters the competition. During the story, there are other characters, like a older brother who loves playing PlayStation but gets angry and leaves (away from PlayStation) and the mother who tries to get to terms with her wanting to ride a bicycle. I watched this out of interest. I had the DVD for 2 years now. I was curious to watch it. It's maybe the only movie from Saudi Arabia at the moment I believe. The director of the movie was a woman. It was believed she had to direct the movie while she was in a trailer because it is illegal there for women and men to mix in the workplace, so she had to speak from a microphone to the actors and actress from the trailer.

Post by daz on May 30, 2019 6:03:59 GMT

Yep, SOMEONE has to put this in here and it is me. Cinema never reached Saudi Arabia until this decade and they never made movies, so Wadjda was the answer to what people want Saudi Arabia for cinema. Well maybe. Wadjda is about a young girl who wants to ride a bike however because of the cultural limits, her mother refuses to buy her a bike because men are only allowed to ride bikes and people will laugh at her. So at school, the young girl wants to purchase a bike and a competition is formed for girls who recite the Muslim holy book the Quran. She enters, hoping she'll win the money to purchase the bike to ride with. So she enters the competition. During the story, there are other characters, like a older brother who loves playing PlayStation but gets angry and leaves (away from PlayStation) and the mother who tries to get to terms with her wanting to ride a bicycle. I watched this out of interest. I had the DVD for 2 years now. I was curious to watch it. It's maybe the only movie from Saudi Arabia at the moment I believe. The director of the movie was a woman. It was believed she had to direct the movie while she was in a trailer because it is illegal there for women and men to mix in the workplace, so she had to speak from a microphone to the actors and actress from the trailer.

I found it a captivating film, certainly didn't sell Saudi Arabia to me in any way, unlike most foreign films I watch do with other countries.

I think they have made a few films in Saudi, whether we would be interested in any of them is another matter, but thankfully the regime isn't as oppressive as it once was and I think woman can ride bikes now, they can certainly drive cars.

Post by Arch Stanton on May 30, 2019 6:49:29 GMT

Yep, SOMEONE has to put this in here and it is me. Cinema never reached Saudi Arabia until this decade and they never made movies, so Wadjda was the answer to what people want Saudi Arabia for cinema. Well maybe. Wadjda is about a young girl who wants to ride a bike however because of the cultural limits, her mother refuses to buy her a bike because men are only allowed to ride bikes and people will laugh at her. So at school, the young girl wants to purchase a bike and a competition is formed for girls who recite the Muslim holy book the Quran. She enters, hoping she'll win the money to purchase the bike to ride with. So she enters the competition. During the story, there are other characters, like a older brother who loves playing PlayStation but gets angry and leaves (away from PlayStation) and the mother who tries to get to terms with her wanting to ride a bicycle. I watched this out of interest. I had the DVD for 2 years now. I was curious to watch it. It's maybe the only movie from Saudi Arabia at the moment I believe. The director of the movie was a woman. It was believed she had to direct the movie while she was in a trailer because it is illegal there for women and men to mix in the workplace, so she had to speak from a microphone to the actors and actress from the trailer.

I found it a captivating film, certainly didn't sell Saudi Arabia to me in any way, unlike most foreign films I watch do with other countries.

I think they have made a few films in Saudi, whether we would be interested in any of them is another matter, but thankfully the regime isn't as oppressive as it once was and I think woman can ride bikes now, they can certainly drive cars.

Post by westldner on May 30, 2019 22:19:40 GMT

Yep, SOMEONE has to put this in here and it is me. Cinema never reached Saudi Arabia until this decade and they never made movies, so Wadjda was the answer to what people want Saudi Arabia for cinema. Well maybe. Wadjda is about a young girl who wants to ride a bike however because of the cultural limits, her mother refuses to buy her a bike because men are only allowed to ride bikes and people will laugh at her. So at school, the young girl wants to purchase a bike and a competition is formed for girls who recite the Muslim holy book the Quran. She enters, hoping she'll win the money to purchase the bike to ride with. So she enters the competition. During the story, there are other characters, like a older brother who loves playing PlayStation but gets angry and leaves (away from PlayStation) and the mother who tries to get to terms with her wanting to ride a bicycle. I watched this out of interest. I had the DVD for 2 years now. I was curious to watch it. It's maybe the only movie from Saudi Arabia at the moment I believe. The director of the movie was a woman. It was believed she had to direct the movie while she was in a trailer because it is illegal there for women and men to mix in the workplace, so she had to speak from a microphone to the actors and actress from the trailer.

I found it a captivating film, certainly didn't sell Saudi Arabia to me in any way, unlike most foreign films I watch do with other countries.

I think they have made a few films in Saudi, whether we would be interested in any of them is another matter, but thankfully the regime isn't as oppressive as it once was and I think woman can ride bikes now, they can certainly drive cars.

Yeah, I think the movie did a great job giving a story to allow women to drive cars now. The bike was a symbol of driving in the movie and yeah, I thought it really captured the Arab setting well to make it feel like it could have been in a country like the UAE or Qatar or something.

Post by westldner on May 30, 2019 22:29:36 GMT

Suicide Room 2011 (Poland)

About a male teenager Dominik who gets humiliated at school for being gay and drops out. His parents struggle to help him get back in school and have problems of their own which get in the way of his upbringing. Dominik meets a girl online were they chat and go into a social world of their own. She encourages him to kill himself as well as herself. It's a straight forward movie really. Really dark for a coming to age movie. In a way, predictable. Interesting because it does represent this day of age with the use of internet and social networks and how teenagers interact. There's virtual rendered scenes which make the movie look fun where the users use avatars and there's a character who mocks the characters because they weren't saying who they really were, they were using avatars to make it like they were big and strong, which is common. The UK released the movie aimed at the LGBT community. :S The entire movie isn't like that, it's mostly the character using the internet. There's even a Jacek i Agata parody in the movie being used which I thought was interesting.

Post by daz on Jun 2, 2019 18:30:57 GMT

Den 12. mann (The 12th Man) Norwegian.

A film about the true story of Jan Baalsrud, A norwegian who was trained in Scotland during WW2, to go back to Norway and be a saboteur with a group of 11 others, on route to Norway they were discovered, a fellow Norwegian tipped of the Germans and Baalsrud was the only survivor of the 12, but was hunted down by a vengeful Gestapo officer, the film tells the story of how he survived being on his own with no provisions to survive the harsh Norwegian winter and being injured and how the Norwegian people looked after him despite the danger and he become a sort of figurehead for the Norwegian people.

Post by lenny0 on Jun 7, 2019 15:03:42 GMT

First, the copy on YouTube is terrible - characters have substantial conversations with no subtitles, then one short one pops up (plus their burned in and faint).

More importantly though, it's impossible to know the strictures placed on the film-makers - apparently it was made by students at Kim Jun-Il University, and it certainly looks like the Revolutionary Communist Party tried to remake When Harry Met Sally using some film stock they found in a bin. There are only two expressions on show - sadness (as for instance when you think you have failed the Dearest Leader) and grinning happiness (all other times). Whole minutes of the short screen time are given over to showing fruit on trees and bowls of food - both as adverts for the success of North Korea and little treats for the common NK people who, you suspect, never see such comparative riches...

What worried me most was that the heroine, though she had several dresses, apparently only had one pair of shoes (and a set of wellies, to be fair), and they were of the type my 90 year old nana used to wear. It's the little things...

Post by westldner on Jun 8, 2019 3:32:50 GMT

First, the copy on YouTube is terrible - characters have substantial conversations with no subtitles, then one short one pops up (plus their burned in and faint).

More importantly though, it's impossible to know the strictures placed on the film-makers - apparently it was made by students at Kim Jun-Il University, and it certainly looks like the Revolutionary Communist Party tried to remake When Harry Met Sally using some film stock they found in a bin.

North Korea really tries to get the edge in anything. They made a browser based driving game a few years ago about driving around their capital city, It was made with Flash, so Adobe is about to pull the support which would not be noticed in the near future, so maybe it's no surprise they had something then and they keep trying.

Post by westldner on Jun 9, 2019 14:23:38 GMT

Kontroll - Hungary (2003)

A comedy thriller movie about a group of ticket inspectors who live their life working in the Budapest metro. The metro is known to be the oldest in the world, if not one of the oldest. The movie follows Bulcsu (played by Sándor Csányi) who almost lives this unhealthy live in the metro. It is more gears to the guys in their 20s, if not teen years. The movie was directed by Nimród Antal, an American born with Hungarian heritage who went out to make this film (who also wrote and directed Metallica: Through the Never in 2013).

Something of interest and why I've posted this as a movie to maybe watch, how it is an Hungarian movie and they place a lot of almost almost dark fashion references in the movie (almost like they are nazi officers), considering Hungary is close to Germany. The clothing the main character wears, the long trench jacket and red arm badge and there was a scene in the movie where he gets summoned by the station manager and it almost looked like an interrogation and torture scene because of the deaths that occurred in the metro during the movie and they thought it was Bulcsu.

The movie made Sándor Csányi a bit more of a national star, he went on to appear in many more movies (not in a mood to recommend) but you'll notice him if you look into some of the later modern films from Hungary.

Post by daz on Jun 16, 2019 19:04:38 GMT

Battalion (Russian)

A film based on the true story of a Battalion of woman who were sent to fight on the Russian front line during WW1, when the male soldiers were refusing to fight due to the Bolsheviks and the start of the revolution, so as a propaganda stunt they formed a womans battalion the film shows their journey from training camp through to entering the battlefield.

There were a couple of scenes in it which made me laught out loud and it wasn't that you were meant to laugh at them, but it was just the reactions to watching the woman kill soldiers for the first time and start crying in the battlefield in the midst of battle and I mean stopping to crying and forgetting that they were in a fight, it just seemed a bit surreal, but I suppose it would have been acurate enough, but they were far braver than I would have been in the same situation.

Post by daz on Jul 3, 2019 5:55:45 GMT

The Deep (Djúpið) Iceland

The first ever film I have saw from Iceland and it was a cracker based on the below true story

In regard to the real-life survival story and the extraordinary feat of the Icelandic fisherman, Guðlaugur "Gulli" Friðþórsson, Baltasar Kormákur's "The Deep" faithfully recreates the maritime tragedy of the ageing vessel, Breki, when on 11 March 1984 capsized near the Westman Islands, in the notoriously rough waters of the unforgiving North Atlantic. Among a small crew of six men, the cheerful, overweight, and utterly unassuming Gulli summons the strength to fight the omnipotent forces of nature, swimming back home for six hours in frigid and deadly waters.

They did an experiment afterward with the guy and took a Marine and a soldier from both the SBS and the SAS and put them in a pool with conditions Gulli would have faced in the Atlantic, the soldiers were all out after 20 minutes and the extreme conditions impacted on their bodies as expected and this guy just carried on swimming as though it was normal.

Post by Arch Stanton on Jul 3, 2019 17:30:39 GMT

The Deep... faithfully recreates the maritime tragedy of the ageing vessel, Breki, when on 11 March 1984 capsized... Gulli summons the strength to fight the omnipotent forces of nature, swimming back home for six hours in frigid and deadly waters.

Is the film 6 hours long? Please tell me it’s more like 6minutes?Is that it, a fat bloke swimming for 6 hours? Sounds like a cracking film

No giant Octopus?No psychic, vengeance fuelled killer whale?No alien spaceship trapped in the frozen waters for 5000 years until it is woken?No nazi zombie filled Uboats brought back to the surface by voodoo?

Rumour has it Eamonn Holmes also did the endurance test at the same time as the SAS and due to his superior, insulating levels of body fat he lasted 6 years.

Post by daz on Jul 4, 2019 5:58:41 GMT

The Deep... faithfully recreates the maritime tragedy of the ageing vessel, Breki, when on 11 March 1984 capsized... Gulli summons the strength to fight the omnipotent forces of nature, swimming back home for six hours in frigid and deadly waters.

Is the film 6 hours long? Please tell me it’s more like 6minutes?Is that it, a fat bloke swimming for 6 hours? Sounds like a cracking film

No giant Octopus?No psychic, vengeance fuelled killer whale?No alien spaceship trapped in the frozen waters for 5000 years until it is woken?No nazi zombie filled Uboats brought back to the surface by voodoo?

Rumour has it Eamonn Holmes also did the endurance test at the same time as the SAS and due to his superior, insulating levels of body fat he lasted 6 years.

It was actually 8 hours, well they had to show the full 6 hour swim, then an hour either side of the disaster to cover events, but it didn't feel like 8 hours, honest.

I suspect your are still bitter with Iceland for knocking England out the 2016 Euros.

Post by daz on Jul 4, 2019 6:05:38 GMT

Headhunters (Norwegian)

Robert makes a living as a headhunter for a recruitment firm, but tops up his income by stealing works of art. He is also small and has a very tall. beautiful Wife, who we see naked within the opening minutes and he is driven by jealousy that she will leave him for a taller man, he is also knocking off a pretty brunette on the side to help his jealousy.

Anyway, an assasin is on his tail, as the assasin works for a firm in the GPS sector who are hitting financial problems and the Assasin, who was the top man at the firm and an ex special services soldier who has to get onto the board of his rivals for his own company to survive and goes on a murder spree, as Robert has discovered he is knocking off his Wife and ensures he doesn't get the job he seeks.

Far fetched at times, but with films like these, best just go with the flow, avoid picking holes in the plot and enjoy.

Post by Arch Stanton on Jul 4, 2019 6:36:42 GMT

Is the film 6 hours long? Please tell me it’s more like 6minutes?Is that it, a fat bloke swimming for 6 hours? Sounds like a cracking film

No giant Octopus?No psychic, vengeance fuelled killer whale?No alien spaceship trapped in the frozen waters for 5000 years until it is woken?No nazi zombie filled Uboats brought back to the surface by voodoo?

Rumour has it Eamonn Holmes also did the endurance test at the same time as the SAS and due to his superior, insulating levels of body fat he lasted 6 years.

It was actually 8 hours, well they had to show the full 6 hour swim, then an hour either side of the disaster to cover events, but it didn't feel like 8 hours, honest.

I suspect your are still bitter with Iceland for knocking England out the 2016 Euros.

Post by lenny0 on Jul 16, 2019 14:37:59 GMT

Jef Costello is a hired killer living in Paris who likes to wear Fedora style hats and trench coats. He is successful at his job because of the time he takes to establish air tight alibis. After one job, Jef is brought in for questioning by the police but has to be released due to lack of evidence. The Inspector in charge of the case is convinced Jef was involved and is determined to bring him to justice. The people that hired Jef are not happy about the situation either. Jef finds himself in serious hot water with both sides of the law.

For years I had read how this movie was a classic, a masterpiece, a work of art and how it was an nfluence of John Woo's film The Killer. Given all that I was slightly disappointed when I finally saw it. Fortunetly only slightly. It is a very good movie and Alan Delon gives an impressive performance as Jef Costello.

A really good film.I haven't seen it in years.

Just watched it yesterday and thought it was so good I immediately watched another Melville film AGE OF SHADOWS today (and that was just as good - God, but Melville is a bleak, bleak bar steward of a director though).

Has a film ever conveyed so much in silence, or an actor so much with only variations on a single facial expression as Delon in this?

An astonishing movie, that I suspect I'll be watching again fairly soon.

Post by Arch Stanton on Aug 15, 2019 20:00:36 GMT

La Cage (1975)

A man is incarcerated by his possessive ex-wife in a cage that she keeps in her cellar.

Interesting, psychological cat and mouse study of two adults who once upon a time fell in love and then drifted apart. The ex-wife feels she is entitled to answers, whilst her ex-husband is not entirely sure he has any to give her.Lino Ventura and Ingrid Thulin are excellent as the estranged couple, and although the film never really 'goes anywhere' it maintains intrigue and viewer attention throughout.Will he escape? If not, then what the hell will she do with him?I very much enjoyed it and I feel it's a film you would be unlikely to forget.Thankfully it's not all shouty, bleak and depressing, and though far from a battle of the sexes type comedy, it even has quite an upbeat ending.

Post by lenny0 on Aug 20, 2019 15:36:10 GMT

Bahubali: The Beginning (2015)

Directed by S.S. Rajamouli

The most expensive Indian film of all time, apparently, and it shows. Some occasionally poor cgi long shots aside, every penny they spent is on screen and it serves to create one hell of a visual spectacle, with battle scenes to rival those in Game of Thrones, insane (but very Indian) fantasy sequences, and a virtual cast of thousands.

And the story is pretty good too - wildly melodramatic and totally OTT, but full of the sort of genuinely dramatic moments that Hollywood cinema thinks not cool enough. 160 minutes long and as soon as it finished I wanted to watch the nearly 3 hour second part (it's basically one 6 hour movie split into two parts, so don't expect a resolution at the end of film one!)

Post by mybodyguard on Aug 29, 2019 15:58:07 GMT

A man is incarcerated by his possessive ex-wife in a cage that she keeps in her cellar.

Interesting, psychological cat and mouse study of two adults who once upon a time fell in love and then drifted apart. The ex-wife feels she is entitled to answers, whilst her ex-husband is not entirely sure he has any to give her.Lino Ventura and Ingrid Thulin are excellent as the estranged couple, and although the film never really 'goes anywhere' it maintains intrigue and viewer attention throughout.Will he escape? If not, then what the hell will she do with him?I very much enjoyed it and I feel it's a film you would be unlikely to forget.Thankfully it's not all shouty, bleak and depressing, and though far from a battle of the sexes type comedy, it even has quite an upbeat ending.

'If only they'd just called Relate...' was not the tag line.

Wow, that's definitely a switch from the modern trend of having girls caged in cellars.

Post by daz on Aug 30, 2019 5:59:31 GMT

The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lãzãrescu) Romanian

Romania have done some decent films over the years and this was as good as any. An old drunk (Mr Lazarescu), lives alone with his three cats, is unwell and calls the services for help, but they are slow to respond so he seeks his neighbours help. When the Ambulance finally arrives it is clear they think he is just another drunk wasting their time, but the Ambulance woman changes her mind and tries to take him to hospital, from here we witness both the patient and the Ambulance getting shunted from hospital to hospital for treatment and all the time Mr Lazarescu condition deteriorates and from it we see the good and bad side of health professionals.

Post by daz on Sept 2, 2019 5:59:58 GMT

Burning (Beoning) Korean

A Korean thriller which ran on far too long in my opinion, but for whatever reason has got good reviews. Usually with Korean films you usually face all out assault on the senses, but this one whilst well thought out in parts did seem to meander on a little too much without too much to get exited about.

A bit of a plod at 2 hours 20 minutes, knock 40 minutes off it and you may have had a film that deserves the reviews.

Post by I used to think I was a parrot on Sept 3, 2019 20:15:41 GMT

Who likes Eric Rohmer. I have been watching some of his classics.

My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (1987)

Two young women become friends and are involved with two men. There is lots of dialogue and discussion with the attractive cast. Also this one is set in some strange new town near Paris which provides a great background.

A Summer's Tale (1996)

This one is about a shy young man who is staying in St Malo before starting work. At the start he is on his own, but then he makes friends with a local girl - friendly at first but they grow closer. A girl he has been seeing from another town arrives, and he becomes involved with another local girl. He has to choose one at the end. Again great dialogue and location. This one also has Amanda Langlet in it.

The Green Ray (1986)

This wonderful film features a woman who is alone for the summer holidays after breaking up with her boyfriend. She travels around staying with friends and their families but cannot fit in, and she is not interested in casual holiday relationships with men. But she overhears a conversation about something that gives a person an insight into their true self. This has a very memorable ending. But no Amanda Langlet.

Post by mybodyguard on Sept 4, 2019 1:05:25 GMT

Two young women become friends and are involved with two men. There is lots of dialogue and discussion with the attractive cast. Also this one is set in some strange new town near Paris which provides a great background.

A Summer's Tale (1996)

This one is about a shy young man who is staying in St Malo before starting work. At the start he is on his own, but then he makes friends with a local girl - friendly at first but they grow closer. A girl he has been seeing from another town arrives, and he becomes involved with another local girl. He has to choose one at the end. Again great dialogue and location. This one also has Amanda Langlet in it.

The Green Ray (1986)

This wonderful film features a woman who is alone for the summer holidays after breaking up with her boyfriend. She travels around staying with friends and their families but cannot fit in, and she is not interested in casual holiday relationships with men. But she overhears a conversation about something that gives a person an insight into their true self. This has a very memorable ending. But no Amanda Langlet.

Yes, I'm a big Rohmer fan. I watched Full Moon In Paris two nights ago. A Summer's Tale is superb and it's the best of his Four Seasons Tales. I also posted about Rendez Vous In Paris a few pages back. Rohmer has a knack for serene cinematography combined with intriguing characters and dialogue. And he always has a moral story to tell, of course. I didn't like Green Ray as much as his other films when I first saw it, but it's been a while and I'd rewatch it again if I have a chance.

Amanda Langlet is lovely in A Summer's Tale and she reminds me a lot of a girl I once knew. She was French, too.

Post by gustav on Sept 11, 2019 21:01:42 GMT

I can't read or understand any German but I would like to see the German TV show 'Babylon Berlin' which was shown in Germany in 2017. Does anyone know if this is available in any form in English-speaking countries and if there are subtitles?

One reason I would like to see it is it features a fictional character based on Bernhard Weiss, a real life Weimar-era senior policeman who features in many of Philip Kerr's books, including, most recently, 'Metropolis' which was published a year after his death. Bernhard Weiss was a Jewish politician in Berlin who escaped to London days before the Nazis took over in 1933. He also sued Goebbels over 40 times and Wikipedia mentions "The Man who chased Goebbels" a 2005 film "by Reiner Mathias Brueckner". Has anybody ever come across that?

Post by Arch Stanton on Sept 15, 2019 8:03:41 GMT

I can't read or understand any German but I would like to see the German TV show 'Babylon Berlin' which was shown in Germany in 2017. Does anyone know if this is available in any form in English-speaking countries and if there are subtitles?

One reason I would like to see it is it features a fictional character based on Bernhard Weiss, a real life Weimar-era senior policeman who features in many of Philip Kerr's books, including, most recently, 'Metropolis' which was published a year after his death. Bernhard Weiss was a Jewish politician in Berlin who escaped to London days before the Nazis took over in 1933. He also sued Goebbels over 40 times and Wikipedia mentions "The Man who chased Goebbels" a 2005 film "by Reiner Mathias Brueckner". Has anybody ever come across that?

Sorry dude not my area of expertise.It is out on BD both series 1&2 but I think you would need to get jno and Terry to fan sub em for you, coz I can’t find an English friendly print.